Taming the beast...

[skeleptica]

I know that many people don't even try to handle their chameleons because it causes a great deal of stress on them, but I also notice that alot of people do handle their chameleons.

does anyone have any ideas on how I can try to tame Lola without stressing her out too much?

I know that she has been held before because my boyfriend said that he held her at the pet store when he picked her up, and the lady at the pet store was handling her without a fight. When I got her, I let her be for a while so she could get settled into her new home, after a few weeks I made my first attempt by putting my hand close to her to let her get a scent, and right away she went all dark and puffed up. The closest I ever got was by me putting butterworms (her favorite treat) on my shoulder and letting her climb up my arm to get them. You could tell that she didn't like it very much however, right away she made her way back toward the cage and she wanted nothing to do with me. She's so damn cute and I want to hold her so bad, but for the most part I've given up trying.

How has everyone else gotten so close to their chameleons?

techniques?

BB.

 

[Will Hayward]

The chameleon changes color to match the earth, the earth doesn't change color to match the chameleon.
- Senegalese Proverb

I think your own signature says it all...

Within my collection, those that willingly exit the cage and crawl onto my hand will be taken out more often for photoshoots and what not. The ones that dislike interacting with me, are not disturbed. All however have a routine handling checkup every so often if they like it or not, while I check their health.

 

[Tygerr]

I often hear people say that their cham was happy to be handled by them at the pet store, and even approached them eagerly when they opened the cage. Yet later, when the cham has been living in its enclosure at home, it become reluctant (and even aggressive) when handled.

My analysis (and its not an expert analysis) is that chameleons are more often than not housed in poor conditions at pet shops. And any chameleon that is in a habitat that it doesn't enjoy will be dying to get out. That accounts for why chams are often eager to climb onto people in pet stores: the people are just a way for them to get out of the cage - an escape route.

But when the chameleon is placed in a much more suitable enclosure back at the new owner's home (people who research and read these forums usually get their enclosures set up right), then the cham will become more comfortable in its surroundings, and may even become quiet territorial over its enclosure. This explains why the cham in its new environment often doesn't want to be handled and will react aggresively if you try to remove it from the cage. It is 'happy' just to be left alone in there.

Personally, I don't advocate handling chameleons. I regard them as display animals and believe they should only be handled when absolutely necessary (e.g. extensive cage cleaning, health/vet checks, transferring them to an outdoor cage for natural sunlight).

However, each individual chameleon seems to have a distinct personality: some of them may be more tolerant of handling. And some people have reported successfully handling their creatures, so I don't want to start a debate about whether handling is right or wrong: every keeper must make that decision for themselves.

But if your cham doesn't seem to be happy about being handled, then I wouldn't try to force it. Why try to tame something that doesn't want to be tamed? There are other pets that are great for handling: chameleons are great for just observing...

 

[chrisandpugs]

Hi!
I believe in Chameleon "handling" on a daily basis to get them used to human contact. Obviously, it means allowing them to be perched on your hand or shoulder.
You can initially start off by physically doing light touching on your C. in his/her cage. At the beginning, there will be lots of puffy, hissing...etc. but stay firm and continue the 1-2 minute light touching. Your Chameleon will initially try to "head butt" or bite you but you can avoid getting hurt if you use a tiny kitchen over your fingers or touch your C. using the back palm of your hand. Gradually, your Chameleon will know that you will not back down and will get conditioned to you touching him/her and slowly you can take them out of the cage without stress.

My Veil has been so conditioned to touching and being taken out of his cage on a daily basis that even strangers can do it because he knows that humans will not hurt him. He knows that he gets out of his cage and can "hang out" on my shoulder or on my fake 6ft. ornamental ficus trees that I have around my house.

I believe that it is extremely important for them to assimilate to being "handled" on a daily basis because it will cause major stress on a "non handled" Chameleon if he has to taken out of his cage to be taken to the Vet and/or handled for medication, shots or "syringe-fed" due to sickness.

Christine

 

[PardalisGirl]

Taming the beast....

I let the chameleon's behavior be my guide. I let them gradually learn to trust me over time. I don't handle them unless I want to check their health, treat them for an issue, put them outside for some real sun or take an out-of-cage photo. After I have had them for a while I will offer them food "treats" by hand. Even the wildest of them usually end up eating from my fingers. Most of my chams may eat from the fingers but many do not want to be handled. That's the line they have drawn and I respect that. Some will crawl onto my arm when I open the cage. If they do that I will let them sit there as I walk around and do other things.

I've taken plenty of chams to the vet for fecal checks, etc and have found that they did not get too stressed out. In fact, they found comfort sitting on me at the vet's office even though they did not like it at home. My collection is big enough for me to see that they all have different personalities and a different set of boundaries. I really feel that people should respect those things and adjust to them, not the other way around. Thats my two cents on the issue............

 

[Phatturk]

I tried what Pugs was saying with both of my chams. And with my female she took to it very well and after a couple days of hand feeding I moved to rubbing her side with my finger then after a few days of that she had no fear of my hand anymore. However when I did the same thing with my male he hated it and didn't show any improvement as far as fear of my hand is concerned. My male is also missing part of his tail since I got him and when I got him he was only 8 weeks old (I think) so I thought maybe it was the trauma from losing his tail that maybe makes him less social. But still until this day he won't even hand feed.

 

[turrgon]

most animal training is done by reinforcing positive behavior and ignoring everything else. in your case id suggest first giving your chameleon a butterworm on a branch with your hand near it. when becomes used to that start feeding it with your hand closer, like right beside the worm. from there move the worm further up your arm. you had the right idea with the worm on your shoulder but it was probobly too much for the chameleon too soon. while the chameleon is walking over to the worm you might also try picking it up (the chameleon) and slowly moving it closer to the worm to get it used to being picked up.
a major positive with training animals this way is they never entirely forget the behavior or the conditioned stimulus (event leading to a reward, such as being picked up or just seeing you) so after it becomes used to being handled in order to get food, even if you stop giving it food when it gets handled, it will continually expect food when it sees you or when you handle it.

 

[skeleptica]

thanks for all your opinions, I guess my next question would be, that if I am to handle her, is there a certain way that I should pick her up and hold her so that I don't freak her out?

 

[Phatturk]

Well just as an update to my post, Yesterday after work I went home and tried hand feeding my boy Osiris again and he finally ate from my hand. It has taken almost 3 months of trying 2 times a day, I thought it was pretty funny since I had just written here that he never did.

He seemed to like it better when I held the worm with 2 fingers instead of in the palm of my hand.